Canal-digging machine



l v 4 Sheets-Sheet 1. J. MGMULLEN, I-I. S. WOOD 82; H. KRUSI. CANAL DIGGING MACHINE.

' Patented De. 23, 1890.

(No Model.)

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.any/J WK 1% (No Model.) 4 Sheets-Sheet 2. J. MGMULLEN, H. S. WOOD & H. KRUSI. CANAL DIGGING MACHINE. No. 443,458. Patented Deo. 23, 1890.

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(No Model.) 4 Sheets-Sheet 3. J.' MGMULLEN, H. S. WOOD 8u H. KRUSI. CANAL DIGGING MACHINE. No. 443,458. Patented Dec. 28, 1890.

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(No Model.) 4 Sheets-Sheet 4. J. MQMULLEN, H. S. WOOD 8a H. KRUSI.

CANAL DIGGING MACHINE.

No. 443,458. Patented Deo. 23, 1890.

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" UNITED STATES PATENT OEEICE.

JOHN MCMULLEN AND HENRY SHOTVVELL WOOD, OF SAN FRANCISCO, AND HERMANN KRUSI, OF ALAMEDA, CALFORNIA.

CANAL-DIGGING MACHINE.

SPECIFlCATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 443,458, dated December 23, 1890.

Application filed January 6,1890. Serial No. 336,103. (No model.)

To all whom t may concern,.-

Be itknoivn that We, JOHN MCMUL'LEN and HENRY SHorWELL WOOD, residing in the city and county of San Francisco, and HERMANN KRUSI, residing in the town and county of Alameda, all in the State of California, citizens of the United States, have invented an Improved Canal-Digging Machine, of which the following is a specilication.

to Our invention relates to that class of machines employed in digging canals.

Our invention consists in the mechanisms and combinations of mechanisms hereinafter fully described, and specifically pointed out in the claims.

The object of our invention is to provide a canal-digger of large capacity, which can be easily handled and which can Work in a Wet or dry channel.

2o by means of the devices illustrated in the accompanyingvdrawings, in Which- Figure l is a side elevation of our invention. Fig. 2 isa rear elevation. Fig. 3 is a plan. Fig. 4 shows the machine With one of its ends resting on pile foundation. Fig. 5 is an end view showing pile driver and extractor.

Referring to the accompanying drawings, A is a traveling bridge; A Wheel-trucks supporting traveling bridge; a, rails or tracks;

3o B, transverse-traveling carriage mounted on bridge A; B', transverse-feed rope; B2, transverse-feed-rope Winding-drum; b, rails or tracks on bridge.

C is an endless chain and bucket digger;

c, pivot of digger-frame; c', digger-elevating rope; c2, Winding-drum for digger-elevating rope; D D, spoil-conveyers; D', conveyer-operating mechanism; d, hinge-joints of conveyers; E, dirt-hopper; F, oifurcated spout;

4o f, deilector; G, supporting-frame; H H, conveyer-supporting booms; I, main driving-engine; J, boilers; K K, dead-men or hitching-posts; L L, forward feed-rope; Z, guide-pulleys of forward feed-rope; M, Winding-drum for forward feed; N, canal; O, spoil-bank; Q, supportingpiles; R, pile-driver; R', pile-extractor.

The construction of our device is as follows: The digging-machine C, which consists of a series of buckets secured to an endless 5o chain, is pivotally secured to a suitable frame mounted upon a transverselymoving caw We accomplish this object` ria-ge B. Upon this carriage are also located the driving-engines and spoil-oonveyers, with their operating mechanisms, all of which will be described in detail hereinafter.

The moving carriage B is located on and supported by the bridge A, which spans the course of the channel to be dug. Suitable tracks are provided upon the bridge and Wheels upon the moving carriage to enable it to be readily moved from one end of the 6o bridge to the other. The ends of the bridge are provided with wheels or trucks, which rest upon tracks or rails on the banks of the canal or upon temporary foundations in the canal.

To provide for the forward motion of the whole structure, fixed posts are driven into the bank ahead of the machine, one on either side of the canal. To these posts ropes are attached, which are led tothe moving plat- 7o form or carriage B, Where they are engaged With suitable Winding-drums. Guide-pulleys lare placed near the ends of the bridge to properly direct the rope L. The bridge itself is of special construction. It consists of any suitable number of panels, but having long slanting end tension members of more than one panel reach, as clearly shown in elevation in Fig. 2. A special form of cross-section is also employed, the Hoor-beams and 8o stringers being placed below the top chord of the bridge.

The transverse motion of the carriage is accomplished by means of the rope B', the outer ends of which are secured one to each end of S 5 the bridge, the inner ends being engaged with suitable winding-drums on the carriage.

The digging-machine C consists of endless chains to which digging-buckets are secured. The chains pass around suitable chain sheaves 9o or tumblers journaled at the ends of a frame, the inner end of said frame being pivotally secured to a suitable supporting-frame located on the traveling carriage, the outer end of the digger-frame being free to move through a vertical arc Whose center is the pivot connection at its other end. The free end is supported from a suitable boom, said boom resting on and being firmly secured to the moving carriage. The connection between the boom end roo and the free end of the digging-frame con-= sists, preferably, ol`a rope and p Lilley. (lne nd ol the supporting-rope, after passing around a shcavc or pulley on the outer cnil of the boom, is led by means of guide-pulleys to a suitable winding-f lrnm ci, located on the carrlage. rlhe chain-digger is connected by belt or othersnitable drivingconnections with the chain, they are inverted, and so deposit their main engine l'.

The spoil or dirt conveyor is supported on the traveling carriage at right angles to the i direction of the digger and canal. It is preferably made in two sections, being divided in the center, and is located back of the pivoted end of the digger. The sections are preterably alike and consist of endless traveling belts. Both inner and outer bights ot the belts pass around suitable pulleys. rlhese pulleys are journaled on a frame the inner end ot which is supported by and loosely` `jonrnaled on a horizontal pivot, thereby permitting vertical adjustment of the frame and its carrier-belt. The outer ends of each of these frames is supported by suitable stayropes or guys, which are secured to the npper end of a suitable frame also located on the carriage. The inner conveyor-belt pulleys are connected to the main engine by a shaft or other suitable driving connection.

To direct the spoil or dirt from the buckets of the chain digger, the dirt-hopper E is provided, suitably placed to receive the dirt discharged from the buckets. It is provided with two dischargespouts, one directing the dirt onto one section ot' the conveyor and the other discharging on the other section. the junction ot the discharge-spouts of the dirt-hopper is placed a deilecting-plate or gate to control the direction in which the spoil shall be discharged.

A supplementary engine is located on the traveling carriage, and is connected to the winding-drums ci, M, and i32 by suitable friction or other gearing.

On one end ot the bridge is provided a piledriver R and pile-extractor R of: any suitable form. The pile-driver shown in the drawings consists of a drop-weight guided between two uprights raised by means of a rope andtri pclutch, the raising-rope being engaged with and guided to a suitable winding-drum on the moving carriage. cated on the front side of the bridge, the extractor on the rear side. The pile-extraetor here shown consists ot' a hoisting-tackle attached to the top of a suitable fra-me, the hoisting rope or chain being suitably guided and engaged with a winding-drum or other At f The pile-driver losuitable pulling device on the moving car- The machine being in positiomthe ends of: the

bridge rest upon the temporary rails on either side of the proposed canal. The traveling car riage 1s moved over to one side of the bridge main engine. The tree end of the digger is lowered by means ot its supporting-'rope nntil the buckets come in contact with the surface of the ground, which they at once commence to remove and carry up till the loaded buckets reach the highest point ot their journey, where, owing to their attachment to the contents in the hopper E, suitably placed to receive it. lhc dirt or spoilso dug is deilected by means ot' the detlectingplate or gate in the hopper to one of the spoil-con\f'eyer sections, which being also in motion, its upper told traveling toward the bank, the dirt is thereby carried and deposited beyond the line ot' the canal. While the digging-chain is in motion transverse motion is given to the moving carriage li, and therefore to the free end ot' the digger, which causes the digging buckets to cut and remove the earth with their sides as well as their front edges, and so the digger traverses the proposed width of the canal. Ilavingrcached itslimitof motion sidewise, the tree end ol' the digger is lowered for another cut and the moving carriage started on its return journey. These operations are repeated until the required depth of the canal is reached, when it becomes necessary to advance the wholel structure. This is accomplished by the winding-drumsM )I and ropes L L. The digger is again started on a fresh cut, and so proceeds as before described. \Vhen, owing to great depth of. the canal, the spoilbank becomes excessively high it becomes necessary to raise the free end of the conveyer. Itis readily accomplished by shortening the guy-ropes which sustain it, no derangement of the working mechanism at the other end of the eouvcyer taking place, owing to its pivotal attachment. When the canal to be dug is so wide that the bridge cannot completely span it, a canal is dug, as before described, of a width within the capacity of the bridge. To complete the full width of the canal, a temporary foundation is made in the bed of canal to support the outer end of the bridge, and is removed by the machine as it progresses forward, the pile-driver driving piles upon which the supporting-tracks for the outer cud of the bridge are laid, and the extractor removing the piles when the structure has advanced a sui'ticient distance. lVhen completing the width ot the canal, as just dcscribed, the spoil can only be deposited Von one bank so that the section of the conveyor overha-n gin g the already completed side of the canal cannot be operated. 1t is therefore rc` moved and its place taken by a weight to counterbalance the remaining conveyer-section. The operation of digging, removing, and depositing the spoil in completing the wide canal is in al1 respects similar to that already described.

As it is equally essential that the machine should be capable ot digging narrow and shallow canals as wide and deep ones, the

and the chain digger pnt in motion bythe special torni of bridge has been designed, as

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hereinbefore described, to meet this requirement. The long slanting end tension niembers enable it to clear the edges of the canal or excavation where very narrow.

As every unnecessary foot which the dirt is raised means a useless expenditure of power, We have made the cross-section of the bridge of the form described, so that the moving carriage, and consequently the digger, shall be as low as practical to Work it, and thereby avoid unnecessarily elevating the spoil.

Having now described our invention, what We claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

l. The combination, in a canal-digging machine, of a traveling bridge provided at one of its ends with any suitable device for preparing a temporary foundation for that end of` the bridge to travel on and removing it as the machine progresses, a transverse-moving carriage mounted on the traveling` bridge, a digging-machine and spoil-conveyer on the moving carriage, and a suitable motor and power-connections for operating the digger andspoil-conveyer, substantially as described.

2. The combination, in a canal-digging machine, of a traveling bridge the ends of Which are provided with Wheels or trucks upon which it is supported and tracks upon which it travels, a transverse-moving carriage thereon provided With Wheels or trucks upon which it is supported, and suitable tracks upon the bridge upon which the carriage moves, an endless chain and bucket digging-machine projecting forward of and at right angles to the traveling bridge, the chain digger resting on and being supported by the traveling carriage, its inner end being pivotally connected thereto and its outer end being adjustably supported by the moving carriage to admit of its vertical movement, an endless-belt conveyer located in the rear of and at right angles to the chain digger on the moving carriage, the inner end of the conveyer being pivotally connected and the outer end being suitably supported to admit of vertical adjustment, a hopper or chute for conducting thespoil discharged from the diggingmachine to the conveyer, dead-men or bitching-posts located ahead of the device and ropes attached thereto for hauling the structure forward, suitable pulling' mechanism with which the ropes attached to the hitching-posts are suitably engaged, and ropes or chains attached near the ends of the bridge and engaged with Winding-drums located on the moving carriage to effect the travel of the moving carriage, and a motor or motors located on the moving carriage and suitable power-connections for operating the chain digger, the conveyer, and the various Winding-drum bstantially as described.

3. The combination, in a canal-digging machine, of the digging and transporting machinery on a movable platform, as described, and a traveling bridge upon which the machinery is supported, in which the floor-beams and stringers are placed below the top chord ot the bridge to reduce the elevation of machinery and earth removed to a minimum, substantially as described.

JOHN MCMULLEN. HENRY SHOTVELL VOOD. HERNIANN KRUSI.

Witnesses:

WASHINGTON JAY MILLER, Guo. W. HEFFINGER. 

